Page 31 of Boss

“Now. You face me like a man and all is forgiven.”

“I don’t want to fight you.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Yegor chuckled. “That pussy you beat on isn’t a man. I’m a man. And only a man can stand down another. We do this.”

“And if I refuse?” Tarek asked.

“Then you join them.” Yegor said. “And I get the brown lady. She’s tasty. Isn’t she?”

Tarek wiped his jaw and left a streak of his victim’s blood smeared over his face. There was no escape. And he sure as hell wouldn’t let Yegor anywhere near Angela. Tarek pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside. Yegor circled him. Tarek clenched his fist. The Russian was four to five inches taller. But they were both equal in brawn and strength. Yegor charged first and Tarek’s best move was a duck and defensive slam with his shoulder to the center of Yegor’s chest. He didn’t, however, anticipate his muscular invincibility. Tarek rammed into a wall of pure resistance. Yegor flipped him over his shoulder and sent Tarek flying. He landed hard on his back. The head bang against the concrete floor nearly knocked him unconscious. He remained woke. Yegor tried to crush his chest with a boot kick but Tarek grabbed the heel. His action was swift enough to cause the Russian giant to slip and trip, landing hard on his ass. Tarek was up in a flash. Yegor was even quicker to his knees. Tarek delivered a swift kick dead center to Yegor’s face. Yegor’s neck snapped back and blood sprayed from his mouth. Tarek delivered another kick to the side of Yegor’s head and another.

There was a loud crack of a sound that made the men in the room tense. But Yegor’s vulnerability was brief. He rolled and got up, bleeding from the nose, ears, and mouth. He swung and landed a punch hard enough to Tarek’s jaw to loosen teeth. Dazed Tarek fell back against the wall. Yegor came for him. But Tarek was up swinging. Yegor punched him hard and fast with lightning speed. The blows to his head were the worst. He landed a few face and chest punches back against his attacker before receiving the kind of punishment hard enough to kill him. Tarek went down. And Yegor was on him. Then he yanked him up by the throat to his feet. Dazed but not done fighting Tarek broke loose and hit as hard as he could. It felt good. He landed harder with his left fist, and then again with his right. Left and right he beat on Yegor’s face until his blonde beard turned crimson with his own blood. Yegor tackled him, weakly, to stop the assault. Tarek wrenched free, he did a reverse move he learned in wrestling that wrapped his arm around Yegor’s throat while pinning one arm behind his back. Yegor bent and tried to throw him but Tarek locked in on his chokehold and Yegor dropped to his knees. Two of his men drew their guns. They’d not stand by and let Tarek kill their boss. But Tarek would not let Yegor go until he was sure the fight was out of him. He felt Yegor weaken and wheeze for breath. The Russian gurgled as if choking on his own blood. Yegor’s men all had their guns drawn and aimed at him. They were shouting in Russian. Tarek didn’t let go. He couldn’t. He enjoyed it too much. Then a man came behind him and hit him to the back of the head. Yegor gagged but was released.

Yegor fell forward wheezing, coughing, in complete distress and Tarek feared he crushed his larynx. Apparently his men did too. They went on attack. Tarek was kicked and stumped from every direction until he blacked out.

11.

Kassidy couldn’t sleep. After hours of feeling trapped and helpless she laid down and forced her eyes to shut. And just as she felt her fears subsiding along with the desperate urge to run from the room she heard another knock to the door. This time faint.

She sat up.

The knob turned but the lock held.

“Angela... it’s me,” she heard a man say.

“Tarek?”

She was almost certain it wasn’t him. But something deep within her forced her to believe. She got up from the bed.

“Tarek? Is that you?”

He didn’t answer. She went to the door and unlocked it. Tarek was carried in by two men. He was dropped on the floor. Kassidy stepped back in terror. The men didn’t even look at her as they turned and walked out. She immediately locked the door behind them.

When she turned around she saw the state Tarek was in. His face was bloody. His eyes swollen with dark bruising. His lip was split and there was blood coming from out of his ears and nose.

“Oh my God! What happened? Tarek? Tarek?”

She dropped to her knees to help him. He rolled over to his back. She unzipped his coat. He winced and groaned but she managed to pull him out of it. She got to her feet and went to the bathroom. She wet two towels. When she returned to the room Tarek had pulled himself up. He crawled toward the foot of the bed.

“What happened? Did Yegor do this to you?”

“I’m fine. I need my phone.” He spit up blood.

“No signal in here. You have to go out of here to get one I guess. I already tried. We need to call the police.”

She went to him and forced him to sit still. She cleaned his face of blood and was able to see the swelling and bruising more clearly. The left side of his face was the most battered. It appeared Yegor was right handed. She thought his nose was broken from the misshapen swelling.

She looked at his hands and saw his knuckles were all swollen and bloody. His clothes were dark but the stains had to be blood as well.

“We need to get out of here. You need to see a doctor.”

“I’ll live,” he winced.

“Can you breathe? Do you think any ribs are broken?”

“I’m fine,” he said.

“Why did he do this to you? Are we in danger? Tell me what to do?”

---